Sudan's humanitarian commission, NGOs launch campaign to aid S. Sudanese citizens

Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) and 40 humanitarian organizations on Thursday launched a campaign to aid the South Sudanese citizens who are facing famine.

The HAC and the NGOs vowed to provide all possible assistance to aid the needy in South Sudan.

The organizations, which launched the campaign, further urged the conflicting parties in South Sudan to stop the war to save the lives of their country's citizens.

Meanwhile, Sudan's HAC Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed Adam announced that the Sudanese government has renewed the deal for transporting humanitarian assistance to South Sudan, which was signed two years ago between the Sudanese government, the World Food Programme and South Sudan, and which is renewed each six months.

"Now we are looking into possibility of opening new passages to transport the humanitarian aid to South Sudan, where presently the assistance is transported through river transport," he said in a statement.

He further reiterated that the Sudanese states on the border with South Sudan, which are receiving South Sudanese refugees, need urgent support, whether from international trends such as the United Nations or friendly countries.

Earlier the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Khartoum announced that over 31,000 South Sudanese refugees arrived in Sudan during January and February this year.

Recently famine was officially declared in South Sudan, where the South Sudanese government and the UN said 100,000 people are facing starvation, with one million people classified as being on the brink of famine.

The famine was attributed to many reasons including the civil war and collapse of the economy in the new-born state. Endit